The Obamacare Layoffs Begin . . .

The Obama health-care law’s adverse effects on employment are no secret. But it’s one thing to look at the economics, and it’s quite another to hear it firsthand from a small-business owner who’s being forced into an untenable position.

Yesterday, a Las Vegas business owner fired 22 of his 144 employees, phoning in anonymously to a local radio host and explaining how the decision was directly caused by President Obama’s reelection.

The interview is articulate and nuanced, worth listening to in its entirety. But here’s the jist of it, in the poor guy’s own words:

I have always put my employees first. I always made sure that when I went without a paycheck that [I] made sure they were paid. And I explained that I always put them first and unfortunately I’m at a point where I’m being forced to have to worry about me and my family now and a business that I built from just me to 114 employees.

I explained to them a month ago that if Obama gets in office that the regulations for Obamacare are gonna hurt our business, and I’m gonna have to make provisions to make sure I have enough money to cover the payroll taxes, the additional health care I’m gonna have to do, and I explained that to them and I said you do what you feel like in your heart you need to do, but I’m just letting you know as a warning this is things I have to think of as a business owner.

Well unfortunately, and most of my employees are Hispanic — I’m not gonna go into what kind of company I have, but I have mostly Hispanic employees — well unfortunately we know what happened and I can’t wait around anymore, I have to be proactive. I had to lay off 22 people today to make sure that my business is gonna thrive and I’m gonna be around for years to come. I have to build up that nest egg now for the taxes and regulations that are coming my way.

Elections do have consequences, but so do choices. A choice you make every day has consequences and you know what, I’ve always put my employees first, but unfortunately today I have to put me and my family first, and you watch what’s gonna happen.

I’m just one guy with 114 employees — well was 114 employees — watch what happens in the next six months.

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I wish this employer had used his full name, but in an era where entrepreneurship is punished and success is resented by a large swathe of the population, can you blame him for being nervous?

That said, this Las Vegas employer is right in guessing he’s not alone. So entrepreneurial readers, how has Obamacare affected you and your business? Drop me a comment and help me tell the other side of this story.

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